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Ontario must act quickly to help those with developmental disabilities: Editorial

Tens of thousands of Ontario families are languishing on waiting lists for services for developmentally disabled relatives.

Community and Social Services Minister Helena Jaczek signalled she is committed to the goals outlined in the final report of the Select Committee on Developmental Services. (Niamh Scallan / Toronto Star file photo)

Fri., July 25, 2014

Families “in crisis.” Families who “feel pushed to the brink of disaster.”

That’s how an Ontario government report describes the state of some families with members who have developmental disabilities such as autism, fetal alcohol syndrome disorders (FASD), Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or epilepsy.

As a result, the final report of the Select Committee on Developmental Services was clear, as the Star’s Andrea Gordon and Laurie Monsebraaten reported: these families need services now. There should be no more wait-lists; they have a right to lifelong services and those services should be provided seamlessly.

That’s why the No. 1 recommendation among 46 from the committee was that one minister should be responsible for ensuring services are streamlined and fast-tracked — and why the committee’s top priority was to end all wait-lists within 12 months.

But the committee can only recommend. It’s up to the government to act. And here, too, there is hope for families.

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While Community and Social Services Minister Helena Jaczek questioned the ability of the government to end wait-lists within one year — “our estimate is more like two years” — she had good reason.

To its credit, before the report was delivered the Liberal government had already budgeted $810 million for extra services over the next three years, on top of an existing annual budget of $1.7 billion. But, as she noted, one year to end wait-lists may not be a realistic goal. “Agencies are going to have to build up their capacity,” she explained. That takes time.

And while she did not automatically accept the recommendation to put one minister in charge of the maze that families must navigate to receive services currently provided by 10 ministries, Jaczek clearly signalled she is committed to the goals the committee identified. The government may have other ways of ensuring that all ministries work together, rather than setting up yet another committee. She needs time to demonstrate how.

All this is good news for families stuck on wait-lists that now number in the tens of thousands.

Still, an extra year is a long time for families already at the breaking point — and any delay will continue to be a drain on other budgets.

In its earlier interim report, for example, the committee warned that without early diagnosis and intervention “too many end up in long-term care, hospital beds, psychiatric wards, homeless or incarcerated.” The personal cost is also high, it noted. “The toll on families includes a high frequency of marriage breakdown and stress-related illnesses.”

How bad is it?

Last April Amanda Telford took her 19-year-old son Philippe, who is severely autistic, has diabetes and Tourette’s syndrome and needs constant supervision, to a developmental services office. With CTV cameras in tow she dropped him off and drove away, saying she and her husband could no longer care for him. Philippe had been on a waiting list for a place to live for a year, and the family had been struggling with the system for 10 years.

The Telfords are not alone. Clearly, help cannot come too soon.

So it’s good news, then, that Jaczek promised she would immediately assign staff to chart action on all 46 recommendations and report back to the select committee members on progress in six months.

She may not agree with all the report’s recommendations, but her unequivocal recognition of the urgency for action should be reassuring to the province’s developmentally disabled — and their hard-pressed families.

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